Judge: Delray can't enforce parts of law prohibiting sober houses

May 4, 2012|By Maria Herrera, Sun Sentinel

Delray Beach — A federal judge on Friday granted an injunction against the city, saying the Caron Foundation has a good chance of showing that the city may have "unlawfully discriminated" against people in recovery when it modified its transient housing laws in February.

The Caron Foundation owns two barrier-island mansions near North Ocean Boulevard that it wants to run as temporary homes for affluent people in the early stages of recovery from alcohol or drug abuse. The city denied Caron the right to open the homes at a meeting in which neighbors protested.

"The judge said [the city's laws were] adopted with discriminatory intent," said Caron's attorney, Jim Green. The laws limit the number of unrelated people who can live in a house and limits the rental turnover to three times a year. "The judge found that the comments the some of the commissioners and planning zoning members made all reflected discriminatory intent."

The Caron Foundation sued the city when commissioners denied permission to house seven clients in the homes in the upscale beach-area neighborhood.

Mayor Woodie McDuffie declined to comment citing the pending litigation. City Attorney Brian Shutt could not be reached for comment despite calls to his office.

The change to the city's rules governing transient living came after public outcry surfaced over news that the Caron Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based, drug-and-alcohol addiction rehabilitation with locations nationwide, including Delray Beach and Boca Raton, sought to open a facility in a mansion on the beach.

For years, the city has tried to address the proliferation of halfway houses, sober homes, detox clinics and rehabilitation facilities without much success. In 2009, it adopted a series of laws aimed to restrict sober houses and transient rental homes from operating in single-family neighborhoods.

The laws redefined how many unrelated people can live in a household and tightened permit requirements for landlords. They also limited rental turnover to six times per year and prevented businesses such as group homes or vacation rentals from operating in areas zoned for single-family homes.

But residents said last year the laws were ineffective and that rental turnover was still too high. They wanted the laws strengthened, which would make running sober houses unprofitable.

It's not clear what the next move for the city is, but Green said "if the city continues to fight, that would be fun."

The city could be responsible for paying legal fees if the Caron Foundation pursues the case and wins, Green said.

Meanwhile, residents of the beach area near where the Caron Foundation plans to open one of the houses have been fighting the foundation's plans with signs opposing transient housing.

But recently the signs have been vandalized or have disappeared altogether. Last month, vandals destroyed about 60 signs that residents had placed in their front yards to protest Caron's move to the neighborhood.

"One night someone took almost all of them," said resident Kelly Barretta. "It's a nuisance, but we replace them. Everyone in the neighborhood feels pretty strongly about keeping the signs up."

For residents near the Caron's homes, the city's laws are not about discriminating against people in recovery but about prohibiting businesses from opening in single-family neighborhoods.

"We have a nice neighborhood here, we have a sense of community," said Bonnie Jones, who lives nearby. "If they think they can bring a boarding house business into our neighborhood just because it's legal, I think that's just wrong."